Trey Anastasio - Biography

Biography

Anastasio was born in Fort Worth, Texas and moved to Princeton, New Jersey when he was three. His father, Ernest Anastasio Jr., was an executive vice president at the Educational Testing Service. His mother Dina (née Brown) was a children's book author and editor of Sesame Street Magazine. He grew up with his sister Kristy.

Anastasio attended Princeton public schools through the fourth grade, then transferred to Princeton Day School. He graduated from The Taft School along with The Dude of Life, who helped pen such Phish compositions as "Suzy Greenberg", "Run Like An Antelope", "Slave to the Traffic Light", and "Dinner and a Movie". At Taft, he created his first two bands, Red Tide and Space Antelope. In 1978, he saw concerts by Pat Metheny and King Crimson and refers to this period as the "one year that changed me."

Anastasio attended the University of Vermont and Goddard College.

Anastasio enrolled in the University of Vermont as a philosophy major. At UVM he met original Phish bandmates Jon Fishman, Mike Gordon, and Jeff Holdsworth. In December 1983 the group played their first gig, an ROTC dance. The setlist consisted of cover songs, including "Long Cool Woman" and "Proud Mary" which was performed twice. The band was very primitive at this time and used hockey sticks as mic stands. After performing one set, Michael Jackson's Thriller album was put on by a partygoer to drown out the band. The band wouldn't return to play but were still paid for the performance. At the University of Vermont, he hosted an early morning radio program, Ambient Alarm Clock.

While living at home for a semester, Anastasio met up with childhood friends Tom Marshall, his future writing partner, and Marc Daubert who would officially join Phish as percussionist from September 1984 to February 1985. After seeing a Phish show, pianist Page McConnell joined Phish in the autumn of 1985. Anastasio, along with Jon Fishman, transferred to Goddard College.

During this time he began a musical association and close friendship with composer Ernie Stires, who taught him composition, theory, and arranging. While at Goddard, he composed the song cycle The Man Who Stepped into Yesterday as his senior project. These songs would become mainstays of the Phish catalog. He graduated from Goddard in 1988.